


Remember Me

by drakonlily



Category: Final Fantasy IX
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-12
Updated: 2011-05-12
Packaged: 2017-10-19 08:03:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/198686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drakonlily/pseuds/drakonlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Freya and Garnet have more in common than they appear. Friendly conversation after the danger, but before Zidane's return. Written for the Final Fantasy Exchange (2011)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remember Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PearlRose86](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearlRose86/gifts).



"There you are." To say that Garnet was unexpected wasn't exactly true. The Queen of Alexandria had been known for numerous flights into the wilderness. She smiled as she leaned against the bar beside her old comrade.

"Aren't Queens supposed to be running kingdoms as opposed to running from them?"

To say that they were flights of fancy was mostly untrue. Garnet was usually focused at the very least. "A popular misconception." The queen made her way to the bar and sat down. She looked about the bar and arched an eyebrow.

"I'm alone." Freya responded curtly.

Garnet's cheeks went pink at the response and she cleared her throat before she looked away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you would come to the Festival of the Hunt without Fratley…"

"I am." Freya tipped back her beer and thought a moment. She changed the subject. "I had planned on visiting the palace in the morning."

"Were you really?" Upon inspection, Garnet looked a little worn and tired, even a little lonely.

Freya swallowed. "Dagger… I really." Freya turned and looked directly at the younger woman. "I really was. I just have a lot on my mind right now."

Garnet lifted a hand for a beer of her own. It was awkward to see her drinking, she worked against an automatic delicateness in her mannerisms when she was out in public. It was part of the new persona, Sarah, Garnet, Dagger, now Queen. Garnet was a woman that was trying to reconcile a lot into one finished product. At times she almost appeared to be succeeding. She sat the beer down after a sip and sighed. "Maybe I do too."

"Maybe you do." It wasn't difficult for Freya to see the big picture really. She knew that there was a lot going on in Garnet's life. The image she was putting forth was to represent Alexandria after what horrors her nation had put the world through. The destruction of so many lives, while not her fault directly, had become her responsibility. "It's impressive what you've done with so little time."

"The festival will give people something to look forward to. Isn't that what everyone needs at some point in their lives?" This time, Garnet lifted the beer and slung it back for a larger drink. Her pretty face flinched a moment, but she set the drink down easily.

This gave Freya pause. She ignored her drink for the time being and rested her head in her hand, elbow propped on the bar. "So what is it that you look forward to then, Dagger?"

She laughed in a way that could give way to tears if she let it. "For him to come back." Garnet shook her head and covered her mouth with her hand. "I know how stupid that sounds, he's probably forgotten all about me."

"Zidane would not forget you." Freya cut in. "Stupid monkey tailed idiot he is, I doubt he's that absent minded." _To be forgotten is worse than death_ ; the words echoed in her head.

"Maybe he is." She mirrored Freya's earlier tone. "I just… felt like you'd understand."

-+-

Freya hadn't had many relationships to base her ideas on love off of. One or two short lived experiences before Sir Fratley were all that she could chalk up to living. She'd never had a breakup that required her to be on any terms with an ex-lover and she certainly had never had to work with one.

Though she imagined very keenly that this was what such an event would feel like. Freya handed off another large chunk of rubble to Sir Fratley. They worked the entire time in silence. The periods that they were not cleaning up Burmecia they would stand in awkward silence.

It wasn't as though he was being cruel to her. It may have been less painful if that were the case. Instead he was going out of his way to be nice to her. 'May I get that for you, Dame Freya?' or 'No, please allow me' were typical in their conversation. He'd even found a flower in the rubble and handed it to her.

When she took it, Freya knew that there needed to be some distance put between them. "Stop forcing yourself to remember me, Fratley." She had said before she left. "Maybe some things are not meant to be."

-+-

"I don't really have time for this." Garnet got better at the whole drinking thing after her first few rounds. "Worrying over a man." She sat an empty glass down and sighed. "I tell myself every night 'maybe tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow he'll have found himself'. And every day goes by without him."

Freya laughed, a sharp sort of bitter sound.

"He's trying, at the very least." Garnet offered in placation. She reached out and put a friendly hand over Freya's.

"But one cannot force love to happen, I've realized, Dagger. It comes or it goes and perhaps I need to stop waiting on him to force out feelings he cannot recall."

Garnet worried her lip with her teeth. Part of her was concerned that Zidane didn't want to remember. Or that he didn't want the bother.

-+-

"Are you gonna sit at that window all _day?_ " Eiko had a funny way of popping up and ruining a long moping experience. She was growing quickly, in a few months she'd spurt up and was making the tailor's life a living nightmare.

"I was just singing." Garnet tried to explain, but Eiko interrupted her.

"You were moping." She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Stop it; you know he'd just ham it up if he knew how you were acting."

Garnet turned her head and looked out the window at Alexandria. There were times the city made her feel as though she was going to be run over under the responsibility. Times where she felt like she couldn't do this without him, where _was_ he? But those times were fewer and far between now. More and more often Garnet felt like she was ruling with confidence. Having Eiko around to study with, to research their shared history, was refreshing.

It was a moment before Garnet nodded. "You know, you're probably right."

-+-

"Do you still think that you are not going to be the Queen that Alexandria needs?" Freya asked.

Garnet sat her drink down on the bar as if an unexpected riddle had been flung at her. She looked from the right to the left then turned to face Freya, her whole body pivoted on the barstool. "I think I just had an epiphany."

Freya lifted her glass in salute. "Pleasure to be of service to the crown."

Very seriously, Garnet took the glass from Freya's hand and sat it down. She waited to be sure she had her friend's full attention. "Would you have been able to be the woman you are now if you would have had Fratley to lean on the entire time?"

After a moment Freya smiled. "I think that I am beginning to see why Alexandria will be fine, Dagger. They have a wise woman for their queen."

Time would change things, of that Freya was certain. Maybe Zidane would return tomorrow. Maybe Fratley would wake up and recall everything they'd ever shared. Perhaps that would be the case. Perhaps it would not. While they both had hope, neither her nor Garnet would fail without them. It was comforting to finally realize that.


End file.
